Nick Pateras | Feast Day of Fools
BOOK REVIEW
Feast Day of Fools – James Lee Burke
Experienced author continues to pack punches with multi-themed escapade
Now this is a real action novel. Absolutely brimming with fast-paced adventure and twists, this book tells the story of a small town in Texas that serves as home to a litany of curious characters: a mild-mannered sheriff still in deep mourning for his recently passed wife, an alcoholic ex-boxer whose reputation now warrants no credibility, a mysterious Chinese woman who lives on the town’s outskirts and is known to shelter illegal immigrants….the list goes on. I believe this is one of many books Burke has written featuring Sheriff Hackberry Holland but was my first exposure to the series. I never felt lost however, as Burke still donates the time to develop his characters as if the story was a standalone.
"If evil was actually a separate and self-sustaining entity, its manifestation was in the nationalistic wars that not only produced the greatest suffering but always become lionized as patriotic events.
Although the time elapsed between when I read the book and the writing of this review has surpassed what I would normally allow of myself, I still remember the pace of the book’s unfolding and the genuine interest I developed in anticipating what each subsequent chapter would bring. The story also handles the troubling and fascinating theme of immigration across the U.S. – Mexico border – an issue on which I knew little prior – as well as the topic of religious freedom, particularly in the more conservative southern U.S. states. I would label this book as thoroughly entertaining and certainly in the top class of my reads in the last couple of years.
-NP, April 2014